Upton Tea Imports

Do your cuppa cravings taper off some as the weather (finally!) warms up? Here, Memorial Day pretty much marks the transition to one decent cup in the morning, then use up all last winter’s mezza-mezza scraps for iced tea until there’s a nip in the air again.

This one is decidedly mezza; one-dimensional. Maybe just a hint of copper in the sip. Eh.

Sipdown!
This is yet another sample sent to me from Sil :D
A tasty blend of black tea, a little cocoa, & spices, most notably Cardamom.

Another Sil’s Samplebox Sipdown.
This is a very nice lightly roasty oolong. There is an undercurrent of fruitiness, a tongue tingle, & although it’s not a true Wuyi, it does have some of the rockiness to it.
Thanks again, Sil!

Funny, I didn’t get any astringency from this cup, even with a 4.5 minute brew time with near boiling water. Instead, like El Monstro, I found this to be a fruity yunnan with medium body, a nice change from the very rich yunnans I’ve been drinking lately.

Back from a weekend of too much beer and too much food at the cabin. Detoxing with salads and pu-erh today! :)

sometimes I regret my favorite hockey team being my favorite hockey team. I had an AWESOOOOOME time w/some people originally from Montreal last night (I’ve been told I can just tell people I am from there too so I don’t have to answer why I’m a fan of them ever again ahahaha) but it was kind of overshadowed by a terrible hit that pretty much busted the face of one of my favorite players b/c of a bad pass by another of my favorite players and all I see everywhere is the blame on the guy who passed and IT’S MAKING ME SO MAD.

But I have gotten two people’s phone numbers in a week! FRIENDS.

I figured I’d come home last night and drink tea, I have no idea why I didn’t have any earlier in the day…but anyway coming home last night turned into 1:30 in the morning. And poor Sebastian was so sleepy I did not want to keep him up.

So finally this morning I could have my tea! Especially because it’s suddenly really windy and cold (ok it’s 62 but that’s way cooler than it’s been). I got this from JoonSusanna awhile back and I really wanted to try it as close to how Frisian tea is made as I could. I didn’t have the right kind of sugar but I used demerara sugar and then coconut milk creamer.

I am pretty sure I did not make the tea strong enough, I probably should have checked on that because that would have helped. Just maybe a teaspoon max more would have helped. Still. I didn’t completely overpower the tea.

It is good, still could get malty notes, I think that sugar made it really kind of caramel-y. Definitely a hearty tea that’s a good choice for waking up. Actually I still don’t want to be awake.

It’s the last day of the month, AND Halloween, & in between practicing sessions & food, I’m trying to manage a few sipdowns.

This one is from the very first box my tea sister Sil sent to me! And an awesome box it was, full of wonderful little packages! This is a black tea with citrus, cinnamon, vanilla, & other spices. It’s a little heavy on the cloves for me, but otherwise it really reminds me of ‘Constant Comment’. It’s been years since I’ve had a cup of that!

Another awesome tea from Sil!!
I filled my 16 oz thermal cup with this & brought it along on my gig, so that I’d have something to drink on the way back home. That cup stays hot for SO long that the tea was STILL hot after I played!

This reminds me of Constant Comment, only way way better! It’s really a tasty blend! Thanks Sil!

I haven’t had this in a while and I forgot how well-balanced and enjoyable this is for an everyday tea. More spicy than sweet, with a hint of raisin and cinnamon. Seems immune to bitterness.

Good morning Steepster! Happy first day of May!!
Ms Theresa printed up our “Tea Collection” list this morning. It looks like my total teas is 243 (256 if I count straight out herbs like Astragulus, Elder Berry, etc, but we’ll leave those off the list.)
Of course, some of those are samples, & I’ve decided I need to get through the samples & quit hoarding!!
This one came from Sil, & it really is a tasty blend of yunnan & assam, somehow allowing the tastiness of both to shine in a really nicely balanced way! I have truly enjoyed it, & someday when I’m allowed to order tea again (today I have 12 days ‘clean’), it’s on my list to order from Upton! Thanks Sil!

I drank this earlier today, & it was a nice smooth & robust blend, with a hint of smoke! The funny thing is, I didn’t notice the smoke until the last couple of sips! Anyway, I really like to combo of Assam & Yunnan, especially since those are the 2 categories of tea that I seem to enjoy the most. Together? Oh yeah, Sil, it was satisfying! Thanks!

Multiple cups already, including one for my boss, who quite enjoyed it.

Trying to finish this up so I can, in good conscience, dive into my new Sungma second flush. It’s more roasty than other darjeelings but I like the richness.

I like the soft wither style of darjeelings because I feel they result in a darker, richer cup. The current fashion is for darjeelings to taste more like oolongs, so it’s not easy to find teas of this style. Luckily, Upton always procures a couple. This cup has a pleasant roasted note and a deep muscatel aroma. There’s not a hint of the astringency that can make darjeelings temperamental and it tastes like wild grapes chased with water from a cold rocky stream. A tea like this one is always one of the pillars of my tea collection.

About halfway through an Upton sample size of this one, and I’m really liking it. The only Kenyan tea I’ve tried in the past was very dark; very earthy. This Tinderet is none of that. An easy steeper that reminds me of melba toast and fruit. Really nice!

Swap from TastyBrew. Thanks, TastyBrew! This one smelled really good, and malty. It tasted like a really good black tea. Couldn’t really discern specific notes brewing it western style. I also added milk, so that could be the culprit, but I wanted milk this morning, so there! ;) I think I’ll try the rest of it gong fu style, since TastyBrew had such good luck with that!

I continue to have great results with this tea. Drink it straight, don’t be shy with the leaf, and enjoy a tea that seamlessly melds a wide range of flavors.

I’m always surprised when I read a person’s comment that teas of this type don’t appeal to him or her; I have to restrain myself from ordering every Yunnan golden fleece/bud/tip from every tea purveyor on the web. The first time I had one, I was hooked like the first time I heard Bob Dylan on my parents’ stereo 40 some odd years ago. I even promote this tea to non-tea drinkers (like my wife) who don’t respond to the Assams and Ceylons that make up most blends. How can you not love the creamy, honey-sweet caramel flavors of these Yunnans?

This one from Upton is a little more lemony and peppery than some, but still retains the characteristics that make you feel like you’re drinking from the very wellspring of tea itself.

This has been my morning tea for a long time. There is absolutely nothing fancy about this. It’s rich, bold, malty and takes (requires) milk and honey well. I haven’t had this in awhile since trying all kinds of new ones, but it was a long night and I needed something extra strong. This is definitely still a favorite, a little bit like coming home.

Update: I forgot how strong this one is caffeine wise. Don’t drink this one without food!

Very pleasantly surprised by this cup! I very rarely buy any flavored teas from Upton, but since I was grabbing all the other samples I figured I’d give this a go. Especially since I’m knee deep in a caramel phase. It smelled like caramel candy in the bag. Once brewed up, it has a nice caramel flavor on top of a smooth black tea. With a bit of raw honey and milk I’m having enjoyable treat. I’ll get a few mugs out of this sample. For $1. I love Upton samples.